[Event "Leon 31st"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2018.07.07"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Praggnanandhaa, Rameshbabu"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2529"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2018.07.06"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{It was the first time that Praggnanandhaa was facing a world class GM in a
serious rapid game. Pragg had just become a GM 15 days ago at the age of 12
years 10 months and 13 days. So the pressure of achieving that title was off
his shoulders. But at the same time I think this was another pressure
situation because people wanted to know how would he fare against one of the
best rapid players in the business. That being said, even Wesley So would have
faced the pressure because he was up against such a young boy, who was not
even a teenager. Full credit to organisers in Leon for organizing this
exciting four game rapid match with a time control of 20 minutes + 10 seconds
increment per move.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 {Wesley just wants to play something
original and not check Pragg's opening preparation.} d5 3. Bf4 {Baadur Jobava
can be credited with popularising this opening, but now it has been used by
just about every top player in elite chess.} Bf5 4. Nb5 {With this move White
frees his c-pawn to advance to c4 at an appropriate moment.} Na6 5. e3 e6 (5...
c6 6. Nc3 {is also possible, and now Black has to decide whether he wants to
allow the doubling on his pawns on a6 or just wants to move his knight to c7.})
6. c4 Be7 ({In the third rapid game of the match, Pragg improved with ...c6.} 
6... c6 7. Nc3 Nb4 8. Rc1 Qa5 {Wesley So - Praggnanandhaa, game 3, Leon Match
2018.}) 7. a3 O-O 8. c5 {This seemed like an ambitious move by Wesley, but he
is asking Pragg that if you think this is overextending and I am neglecting my
development, then try to punish! It's true, there is no easy way for Black to
punish White for the liberties he has taken.} Ne8 {This was a tad too passive.}
(8... c6 9. Nd6 (9. Nc3 Nb8 {and Black has a superior position to what
happened in the game because he hasn't lost time with ....Ne8.}) 9... Bxd6 $1
10. Bxd6 (10. cxd6 Ne4 $15) 10... Ne4 $1 11. Bxf8 Qa5+ 12. Ke2 (12. b4 Nxb4 13.
axb4 Qxb4+ 14. Ke2 Qb2+ 15. Kf3 Qxf2#) 12... Qb5+ 13. Ke1 Qxb2 $19) 9. b4 c6
10. Nc3 Nb8 {Pragg realizes that he has to play ...Nd7 and try for a ...e5
break, but this looks a bit too slow.} 11. g4 $1 {I must say that this was an
ambitious choice by Wesley.} (11. Nf3 Nd7 12. Be2 $14 {And I felt that White
had a risk free edge because ...e5 for Black is not so easy to engineer and
meanwhile White has good control of the position.}) 11... Bg6 12. Nf3 {Now h4
followed by h5 was a big threat.} Nf6 {Not seeing any real way to fight
against h4-h5, Pragg gets his knight back on f6.} (12... h5 13. Ne5 $18) 13.
Ne5 {Wesley is not thinking about moving backwards!} (13. g5 Nh5 {Looks fine
for Black.}) 13... Nfd7 (13... Nbd7 14. Nxg6 (14. h4 $6 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Ne4 16.
Nxe4 Bxe4 {And Black is fine here because f3 will be met with an intermediate
Bxh4+} 17. f3 Bxh4+ 18. Ke2 Bg6 $19 {and now there is no h-pawn to trap the
bishop.}) 14... fxg6 15. h4 $16 {White is better.}) 14. Nxg6 fxg6 $1 15. Bg3 {
White's plan is now simple. Either to play h4-h5 and start an attack. Or just
play f4 and clamp down on the e5 square.} g5 {Pragg stops both f4 and h4 with
this move.} 16. Bd3 (16. f4 {Trying to clamp the e5 square would not be so
great as after} gxf4 17. exf4 g5 $1 {Black gets some good counterplay.}) 16...
Bf6 {Black is all set to play e5 and it seems as if White has no good way to
stop it. But Wesley is not really interested in stopping the move ...e5. He
goes for an aggressive idea.} 17. h4 $5 (17. Qb3 Kh8 (17... e5 18. Nxd5 $18)
18. Rd1 e5 19. Nxd5 cxd5 20. Qxd5 {was a much more accurate way to play.} Nc6
21. Bf5 $16) 17... gxh4 18. Bd6 e5 $1 {I am not sure how this move fares
theoretically. But I think practically it is a great decision. Black gives up
an exchange to finally get the break that he was aiming for right from the
opening.} 19. g5 $1 {Wesley is alert and spots his chance.} (19. Bxf8 Qxf8 $44
{seems like decent compensation.}) 19... Bxg5 20. Qh5 $2 {With this move So
gives up all his advantage in the position.} (20. dxe5 $1 $18 {After this
Black is left struggling because Qh5 is still a threat, so is f4 and the rook
is still hanging on f8:} Re8 21. Qh5 g6 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. Qxg6+ Kh8 24. Qh5+
Kg8 25. Rg1 $18) 20... e4 21. Nxe4 (21. f4 $5 Bf6 $13) 21... dxe4 22. Bc4+ (22.
Bxe4 Nf6 23. Qxg5 Nxe4 $19) 22... Kh8 23. Bxf8 {And here perhaps Wesley was
thinking that Pragg would take on f8 with the knight and that he could go Qf7,
but the little boy surprised him with a nice intermezzo.} g6 $5 (23... Nxf8 24.
Qf7 Nfd7 $13 {and although Black is clumsily placed with his knights jumping
on each other's toes, it is still a fine position for Black.} (24... Ng6 25.
Qxb7 $16)) 24. Qg4 Nxf8 25. Qxe4 Qe7 26. Qxe7 Bxe7 {somewhere around this
point I started to feel that the game might end in a draw. The main reason
being that materially Black is doing really well. On the other hand White's
coordination is good so he might be able to recover a pawn or two until Black
fully develops.} 27. Ke2 g5 28. Rab1 a6 29. d5 cxd5 30. Bxd5 Nc6 31. Rhd1 Rb8
$6 (31... Kg7 $11) 32. Be4 Kg7 33. b5 axb5 34. Rxb5 Na7 35. Rxb7 Rxb7 36. Bxb7
Bxc5 {The a-pawn is scary, but Pragg does well to get all his pieces working
together. Judging by the fact that he had just 10 seconds left on his clock,
it was a great feat by young Pragg.} 37. a4 Kf6 38. Be4 h6 39. Rd5 Ne6 40. Rf5+
Ke7 41. Bd5 Bd6 42. a5 h3 43. Kf3 h5 $6 {Perhaps it became a bit too much for
Pragg to just wait around. White was threatening to get his king to the
kingside with Kg4 and so on and hence Pragg went for something more concrete.}
(43... Nc8 $11 44. Kg4 h2 45. Kh3 Nc7 46. Kg2 Nxd5 47. Rxd5 Kd7 $11) 44. Bxe6
g4+ 45. Ke4 Kxe6 46. Rxh5 h2 {The h-pawn now forces the rook to stay passive.}
47. Rh6+ Ke7 48. Kd5 Bc7 49. a6 Kf7 50. e4 {Now e5 is a threat, but Pragg has
it all figured out.} Kg7 51. Rh5 Kg6 52. Rh8 Kf6 {stopping ...e5.} 53. Kc5 Kg5
54. Kd4 Bb6+ $5 (54... g3 $1 {was winning the game as after} 55. fxg3 Bxg3 {
The threat is ...Bh4.} 56. Rg8+ Kf4 57. Rf8+ Kg4 58. Rf1 Bf2+ $1 59. Kd5 Bg1
$19) 55. Kd5 Bxf2 {I liked this idea of giving up the h-pawn, but putting all
the money on the g-pawn instead. Of course, ...g3 was winning, but it was not
easy to find it with just a few seconds left on the clock.} 56. Rxh2 g3 57. Rh8
Nb5 58. Rg8+ Kf4 59. Rf8+ Ke3 60. e5 (60. Rg8 $11) 60... g2 61. Rg8 Kf3 62. Kc6
$2 {A moment of temporary blindness for Wesley.} (62. Rxg2 {and the game would
have ended in a draw.} Kxg2 63. e6 Nc7+ 64. Kd6 Nxa6 65. e7 Bc5+ 66. Kd7 Bxe7
67. Kxe7 $11) 62... Bg3 $1 {The g-pawn is queening and there is no one that
can stop it.} 63. e6 g1=Q 64. e7 Nc7 {The e-pawn is stopped and Wesley
resigned. What a win for Praggnanandhaa. He fought against Wesley who was
rated 2852 in the rapid rating list on equal terms and came out strong!} 0-1

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 18th"]
[Site "Caleta"]
[Date "2020.01.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Praggnanandhaa, Rameshbabu"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2602"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2020.01.21"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GGB"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,65,19,28,46,30,28,39,71,47,16,20,14,20,51,32,79,49,20,23,11,9,20,14,
11,15,41,28,32,24,21,-1,39,46,58,70,51,47,47,47,70,43,25,36,32,74,79,190,192,
211,288,259,259,263,267,270,280,387,345,345,423,393,408,412,450,542,548,548]} 
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Be3 b6 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O cxd4 {A rare continuation, not very consistent with ...
b7-b6 (Black has protected the c5 pawn and now trades it). Moves usually seen
in practice:} (10... f5) (10... f6) (10... Bb7) 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Nb8 {
A typical manoeuvre, however, quite possible without ...b7-b6.} 13. Bf2 (13.
Nd1 $5 {deserves attention and leads to a position often arising from another
move order, when White plays Nc3-d1 earlier:} Nc6 (13... Ba6 14. Bxa6 (14. Ne3
Bxe2 15. Qxe2 Nc6 16. c3 g6 17. Rf2 Rc8 18. Raf1 f5 19. exf6 Nxd4 20. cxd4 Bxf6
$11 {1/2 (50) Dek,L (2230)-Michiels,B (2533) Netherlands 2016}) 14... Nxa6 15.
Ne3 Nc5 (15... f5 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Ng4 Bxd4+ 18. Qxd4 Qc7 19. c3 Qc5 20. Rad1
Nc7 21. g3 Qxd4+ 22. Rxd4 Nb5 23. Rd2 Rac8 24. Re1 $14 {1-0 (73) Alekseev,E 
(2614)-Mokshanov,A (2405) St Petersburg 2017}) 16. Qe2 (16. f5 $5 $36) 16... f5
17. Rad1 Qe8 18. c4 $6 (18. g4 $5) 18... dxc4 19. Nxc4 Qb5 20. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 21.
Kh1 Rfd8 $15 {1/2 (60) Quesada Perez,Y (2630)-Akobian,V (2661) Saint Louis 2017
}) 14. c3 (14. Bf2 d4 15. Bf3 Qc7 $132 16. Bg3 $2 Ba6 $17 {0-1 (47) Steinberg,
N (2466)-Sedlak,N (2518) Palic 2016}) 14... Nxd4 (14... f6 $6 15. exf6 Bxf6 16.
Ne3 Nxd4 17. cxd4 b5 18. Ng4 Qb6 19. Nxf6+ Rxf6 20. Rac1 $16 {1-0 (39)
Bodnaruk,A (2431)-Grabuzova,T (2314) Sochi 2019}) 15. cxd4 Bd7 16. Ne3 {
White concentrates his forces on the kingside.} (16. Rc1 $143 b5 17. Nf2 Qb6
18. Qe3 b4 19. Nd3 Bb5 (19... Rac8 20. Nc5 Bb5 21. Bxb5 Qxb5 22. Rc2 Rc6 23.
Rfc1 Re8 $11 {1/2 (48) Santos Latasa,J (2566)-Ulybin,M (2483) Seville 2017})
20. Nc5 Bxe2 21. Qxe2 Rfc8 22. Qf2 Rc7 23. Rc2 Rac8 24. Rfc1 h5 25. g3 Rc6 26.
Kg2 g6 $11 {1/2 (48) Teran Alvarez,I (2378)-Gleizerov,E (2518) Seville 2017})
16... b5 (16... f5 $6 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Ng4 Rc8 19. Rac1 Qe7 20. g3 $14 {
1/2 (38) Kollars,D (2470)-Lomasov,S (2342) Kirishi 2016}) 17. Rf3 (17. f5 Bg5
18. Bd3 f6 19. fxe6 Bxe6 20. exf6 Rxf6 $11 {0-1 (67) Konguvel,P (2384)
-Sethuraman,S (2529) Aurangabad 2011}) (17. g4 $5 Qb6 (17... h6 $5) (17... b4
18. g5) 18. g5 f5 19. exf6 gxf6 20. h4 Kh8 21. Rf2 b4 22. Raf1 $36 {1-0 (35)
Ivic,V (2487)-Cabarkapa,N (2443) Kragujevac 2019}) 17... Qb6 (17... Rc8 18.
Raf1 f5 {1/2 (74) Gulden,E (2161)-Stankovic,M (2401) Mersin 2016} 19. exf6 Bxf6
20. Ng4 $36) 18. Rd1 (18. Ng4 {is a bit premature:} Rac8 (18... f5 $6 19. exf6
Bxf6 20. Nxf6+ Rxf6 21. Rc1 $16 {1/2 (33) Perunovic,M (2582)-Sedlak,N (2593)
Vrnjacka Banja 2012}) 19. Kh1 (19. Rg3 f5 20. exf6 {1/2 (20) Pikula,D (2489)
-Ulybin,M (2529) Winterthur 2012}) 19... f5 (19... b4 $5) 20. exf6 Bxf6 21.
Nxf6+ Rxf6 22. g3 (22. b4 Qc6) 22... b4 23. Re3 Be8 24. a3 bxa3 25. Rexa3 Bg6
$132 {1/2 (31) Vocaturo,D (2537)-Ulybin,M (2538) Alghero 2011}) 18... f6 (18...
b4 19. f5 $5) (18... Rac8 $5) 19. exf6 Bxf6 20. Ng4 Rac8 (20... b4 $5 {[%cal
Yd7b5]}) 21. Nxf6+ Rxf6 {1/2 (30) Papp,G (2539)-Gleizerov,E (2579) Zagreb 2011}
22. b4 $14 Be8 $140 23. Rff1 Bg6 24. Rc1 {It is hard to draw a final
conclusion about this line but Black certainly faces problems here.}) 13... Ba6
(13... Nc6 14. a3 (14. Nb5 $5 {[%cal Yb5d4]}) 14... Bb7 15. Bd3 Rc8 16. Rae1 g6
17. Ne2 $14 {1/2 (48) Ostrovskiy,A (2453)-Hollan,P (2287) Pardubice 2019}) 14.
Bxa6 Nxa6 15. f5 $1 exf5 $6 {[%mdl 32] White's knight now takes a commanding
position on d5.} ({f5-f6 was not threatening yet so Black could have simply
played} 15... Rc8 {[%cal Yc8c4] The initiative belongs to White, though, after,
say,} 16. Rad1) 16. Nxd5 Nb4 17. c4 Rc8 18. a3 Nc6 19. Rfe1 Bc5 20. b4 $1 Bxf2+
21. Qxf2 Qd7 ({Giving up a pawn -} 21... Re8 22. Qxf5 Ne7 23. Nxe7+ Qxe7 {
- was probably the lesser evil.}) 22. Qh4 Qd8 $2 {A tactical oversight.} (22...
Kh8 $1 {was the only remaining defence although White kept a clear advantage
anyway, e.g.} 23. Rad1 (23. Nf6 $2 Qd4+) (23. b5 Qd8 $1 24. Qh5 Nd4) 23... Qe6
24. Nf4 (24. Nf6 $6 gxf6 25. exf6 Ne5 26. Qg3 Rg8 27. Qxe5 Qxc4 28. Qxf5 Qa2
29. g3 Qxa3) 24... Qe7 25. Qxe7 Nxe7 26. e6 (26. Rd7 $143 Rxc4 27. Rxe7 Rxf4
28. Rxa7 h6 {, and Black holds on}) 26... fxe6 27. Nxe6 Rfe8 28. Ng5 $16) 23.
Nf6+ $1 {[%mdl 64]} gxf6 24. Rad1 Nxe5 (24... Qc7 25. exf6 Kh8 26. Rd3 $18 {
[%cal Rd3h3]}) 25. Rxd8 Rfxd8 26. Qxf6 $18 {White has a decisive material
advantage, and Black's king is weak. The rest is clear.} Ng6 27. h4 h5 28. Rf1
f4 29. g4 $1 Rd3 30. gxh5 Rg3+ 31. Kf2 Nxh4 {Desperation.} (31... Nf8 32. Qxf4
Rg7 33. Rd1 $18) 32. Qxh4 Rxc4 33. Re1 (33. Re1 Rc2+ 34. Re2) 1-0

